Think Spring!

Spring arrived in Ithaca a few weeks ago, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Classes are slowing down, deliverables are being non-existent and my motivation to do anything work-related has evaporated. I'm fully in senior spring mode!

Despite the slowdown in class-related areas, the social aspects of my time here have only heated up. The last few weeks brought some fun and new events, such as our admitted students weekend, Destination Johnson, and P.S. - Personal Success, a new tradition started for outgoing second years. Destination Johnson was another great weekend, where I got to meet students who will be first years starting in the fall. It was heartbreaking knowing that I won't actually get to be a student with them, but I'll be more than happy to see them again when I come back for recruiting in the fall. Here's a picture of me and the two lovely ladies (Kelly and Meredith) who stayed at my apartment for the weekend.

P.S. was a new event started this year. It's a day of celebration for all that the second years have accomplished and a chance to network/get advice from alumni as we embark on the next stage of our careers. It was an amazing day that started with a mimosa toast and ended with a fabulous dinner and fireworks! Below is a pictures of me and some of my closest gal pals at the event and of the amazing firework display.

Lots of other things have kept me busy as well (besides my Tivo). I've been working on a second Park Fellowship project this spring with a few of my peer Park Fellows. We're conducting an after-school program on Tuesdays at two different middle schools in the area, with the goal of teaching the students the value of teamwork, communication, respect in both competition and the workplace, as well as throwing in a few business concepts for them to grasp. It's been an amazing time working with the kids and having fun. Here's some pictures from our last session, where the students had to build small cars and compete on distance.

Lastly, we just had our bowling league award ceremony/celebration this past Wednesday at Pixel Lounge, in Collegtown. It was a lot of fun and I even won an award for second highest female average. I only missed first by 0.7 pins! Darn! Oh well. Here's a picture of me with my award.

Nirvana

So these days things are awesome. I specifically set up my last quarter so that I only have three classes, and I'm done by 10:00am on Mondays and Wednesdays and by 11:30am on Tuesday and Thursdays. That does mean I have to get up early every day, but it leaves me plenty of time to hit the gym, take naps, do assignments and whatever else I want. Basically, it's fabulous.

Now there is a common myth that the second year of grad school is automatically easy. I'm here to tell you that is not true. You've got to start planning your first year to make it happen. My plan was to take a few extra credits during the second semester of the first year so that I would have less to fulfill my second year. Then I still had a grueling first semester back so that the last semester would be the best. And here it is! Only three classes and plenty of time to hang out with friends, hit the gym and just relax. It's amazing!

Speaking of fun past times, this afternoon is our first intramural softball game. The weather appears to be cooperating for the first time in awhile, so it should be a good day to play. It's a Johnson school team, but the league is open for all Cornellians, so it's kind of fun that we may play some undergrads. Nothing shows you how old you're getting than playing students that are almost a decade younger than you! I'll let you all know how it goes...

Typical Johnson School

Once again I have to apologize for my lack of recent posts, but I hope to make it up to you with a few smaller posts over the next couple of days (which are VERY busy with end-of-quarter assignments and finals). My post today deals with something that actually happened awhile ago, but it came to mind recently and I wanted to share it with prospective students reading this blog. Basically, this is a story about what it really means to be a student at the Johnson School.

I was speaking with a classmate of mine shortly after classes started this semester. Steve's an Accelerate MBA who is going to be working for the same company I am after graduation. We ended up, quite coincidentally, at final rounds for this company on the same day (they held multiple days of final rounds). Another one of our classmates, Dawn, was also there on this day. On this Friday in December, I didn't really know Steve very well - I just knew his name, that he is an AMBA and that we occasionally frequent the same bars in Collegetown. Other than that, I didn't know much about him. I knew Dawn a bit more since she's another second year student and so we've had much more time together over the past two years. But nonetheless, we all were talking with each other, discussing winter break plans and such right from the moment we saw each other in the lobby.

So there we all were for this day of networking with current MBA Associates at the company, back to back interviews with VPs, lunch with the CEO and a mini training session where they introduced us to their full line of medical devices. Also present this day were applicants from Harvard and MIT (very nice people from what I remember). The whole day went by in a whirlwind of activity and before I knew it, it was over. But during the whole day, the three of us from JGSM joked between interviews and at lunch and showed the camaraderie which just naturally happens here. It didn't matter that we didn't know each other very well - it just mattered that we were from the Johnson School. We had been through the same classes, eaten in the same Atrium and therefore we were very supportive of each other in the final round process. I even offered Dawn a ride back to Ithaca so that she didn't have to deal with the hassle of possible flight delays due to the bad weather which had rolled into the Philly area.

Now fast forward to January when I'm talking to Steve and he mentions to me that he had met with some of the VPs again during a return visit after he got his offer. He said that they were very impressed with the Johnson School candidates, particularly the camaraderie and warmth that we all displayed to each other. They asked if we knew each other beforehand and Steve honestly said that he knew us a little, but not very well. They mentioned that they were impressed by this type of behavior and I guess it showed - there were four open positions at this company and all four Johnson School finalists (another attended a different final round day) got offers! When Steve told me this story, I just laughed because there was no other question in my mind that it would be this way. That's just the Johnson School way.

Bye bye good intentions

Well, well. Here I am poised on the brink of my fifth week of classes, and I realize that I have only blogged once so far this semester. It's been an amazing and interesting couple of weeks so far, and I'm once again blown away by the fact that I'm more than halfway through another quarter of grad school, which means that a few of my classes (three out of five to be exact) will be over in a mere three weeks. How is this possible?! I will be picking up another class to fill the void a bit, but not too much so that my last quarter here will hopefully be as enjoyable as I imagined (and planned) it.

So what's been going on with me? Well, a lot of things have happened since the start. For one thing, the first three weeks of classes lulled me into thinking that this semester was going to be nothing but a piece of cake. I enjoy all of my classes (Critical Thinking, Financial Statement Analysis, Spreadsheet Modeling, Human Resource Management and E-Commerce) and there were no assignments due during the first three weeks. Then last week showed up and suddenly I had an assignment due in every single one of my classes! Thankfully I'm the type of person who always looks a little bit ahead, so I was able to prepare myself mentally for the onslaught of work.

Of course, it wasn't completely easy sailing. The two weekends prior to the "weeklong work frenzy" were crammed with fun and excitement. First, I turned the big 3-0 (yikes!) and that brought with it a fun weekend with my boyfriend and friends here in Ithaca. It also brought a weekend of getting absolutely no work done! Yes it does happen, even in grad school, if you allow yourself the luxury. I did, and paid for it a bit, but not as much as the following weekend when I went home for a wedding. That was the weekend before the dreaded assignment week and it was really hard to take time off then. But I did it nonetheless and was glad that I did at the time. A little buckling down during that Sunday and the rest of the week and everything got turned in on time. Whew!

This semester has definitely had its upsides. I've made a pact with friends to do more activities and we've held close to that promise. I've done dinners at people's houses, gone out to dinner a lot more, hit up Greek Peak for some snowboarding and more. It's been a ton of fun. My advice to anyone going into their second year is to save up some money from your internship so that you can enjoy your last year in college for awhile. One of my favorite topics these days is what to do for spring break (my last one, possibly forever!) this year. My second favorite topic is our bowling league, which makes Thursday nights around here something to look forward to. I'm trying to win the "Best Female Bowler" award this year (I came in second last year), but there's some stiff competition out there. Here's a picture of my awesome bowling team, Brew Crew, making an appearance for the second year in a row. A shout out to Ben Ross, Kate Tansey and Mike Jaffre for making Thursdays so much fun!

The Final Return

This past Saturday I returned to Ithaca for my last semester here at the Johnson School. It was a bittersweet return, given that I was excited to get here and see all of my friends but I know that this will be the last start of new classes and adventures here in Ithaca. My plan is to make the most of it, taking up every opportunity to spend time with others and take advantage of the opportunities that Ithaca and Cornell have to offer. It's bound to be fun!

Winter break was really great. When you're a second year, you're mostly taking elective classes and sometimes classes outside of the Johnson School like I did. I was fortunate that all of my final projects, papers and exams were finished by December 5th, which left me 6.5 weeks of winter vacation. Now THAT is a break. I decided to go on the annual ski trip this year and so I flew out to Steamboat, CO with some of my classmates and had a week-long ski adventure. I'm not a very good snowboarder, so I took lessons with some friends while I was there and in my estimation, I improved dramatically. I'll have to test out my newfound skills at Greek Peak here in Ithaca since I have a season pass. Below are pictures of most of us that made the trip out. As you can see, we had quite a group!

Choosing classes for your last semester is a tricky exercise as I've figured out. On the one hand, this may be the last time that I take this caliber of classes for a long time, so I want to take things that I find interesting. On the other hand, this is my last semester here and I want to have a good time while also learning something. So this was the dilemma I was presented with. I think I've managed to find classes that I'm interested in and a good balance of workloads for them. Mission accomplished!

Well, I'm off to pick up a prospective student for a class visit. I hope that the person finds Financial Statement Analysis as interesting as I do (I'm not kidding. I do find it interesting, at least so far after one class!)

Happiness, success and sadness

Where has the time gone? It's amazing how quickly three weeks can go by around here. And yet so much has happened in three weeks!

We successfully hosted another JMB weekend (see my last post for a description) and it was a great time as predicted. I met some wonderful prospective students and I hope to see all of them during Destination Johnson weekend (the admitted students weekend) in April!

The Women's Management Council (WMC) also hosted a professional trek to NYC last Friday and for our inaugural trek, it was a success! We visited three companies throughout the day (UBS, Colgate-Palmolive and Accenture) and then capped off the trip with a reception that included many more companies in an informal setting at the Cornell Club. Although it was a long day that started with a 5am bus, it was a good time. Below is a picture of me, Tiffany (my fellow Trek chair) and Adrienne (WMC president extraordinaire) at the reception.

Last weekend also brought the long-awaited (at least to me) Diwali celebration. I had practiced, along with my fellow dancers, for two weeks prior to the event, and it was so exciting to see all of the hard work pay off. I had such an amazing time, just as I was expecting to! There were several dances of varying natures, an explanation of what Diwali is about, a fashion show, and then an all-out dance party to finish the night off. I don't think I have ever smiled and laughed as much as I did that night. I wish it could have lasted longer! Below are some pictures of the fun, specifically our Bollywood dance. I'm the one in the orange, Marina is in the purple, Toral is in the black shirt and cute reddish skirt, Margaux on the right in the red and Mythily is on the right in the pink. What fun!

Sadness. That's the emotion that tempered many of us at the Johnson School last weekend when we found out that a fellow classmate of ours, Chad Russolillo, was involved in a horrific head-on car accident on Friday morning. It had been the first night/morning that we had some typical wintry weather around Ithaca, with a mixture of rain and snow falling through the night. There wasn't much accumulation, but it was enough to make the roads slick. I was on the early bus to NYC for the Women's Management Council trek when we came upon the accident scene. Our bus was delayed for a few hours while the rescue workers diligently rescued our classmate Chad, although we had no idea at the time that it was him. He is currently recovering bravely in a hospital near Binghamton and I'm so glad that he's all right. I know that I speak for everyone at Johnson when I say "Hope to see you around Sage Hall soon!" Another great shock also hit the student body when we found out on Sunday that Professor Robert Frank had had a heart attack last Saturday. Thankfully he is also recovering nicely and we also look forward to seeing him around Sage Hall soon!

A Day in the Life

One thing people learn pretty quickly about the Johnson School is that we're a pretty energetic enthusiastic, and yes friendly, bunch of people. Today, about 40 prospective students will get first-hand experience of this as they enter Ithaca for our annual Johnson Means Business weekend. Johnson Means Business is a recruiting weekend centered around diversity and it always brings a wonderful bunch of interested people to Ithaca to experience what we're all about and to help make the hefty decision of where to attend business school.

As you would guess if you've been keeping up with my blogs, I will be involved (I'm a sucker for helping out!). I'm hosting two prospectives and am very excited to meet them this afternoon/evening when they arrive here in town. There are a lot of great events planned for the weekend including breakfasts/receptions sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and Lehman Brothers, dinner with the Dean, career panel discussions and info sessions, dinners at students' houses and a super-fun party at Olivia's tomorrow night. Everyone always manages to have a great time and some of my current classmates attended the same event last year or the year before. I can't wait for the fun to begin!

Tempering my enthusiasm for JMB is the fact that I have three big assignments due early next week. This, of course, spells a weekend that will be filled with group meetings and work sessions when I'm not playing hostess to my awesome prospectives. That's the thing about business school - there's always something that you could/should be doing.

But again it's not all work. One of the other things I will be doing this weekend is attending dance practice for the Indian Diwali celebration that will be taking place here at Sage Hall on Saturday, November 17th. I missed the event last year but I heard it was so much fun that I wanted to be included. Some of my fellow classmates have choreographed several dances that we will be performing and there is also a fashion show. It's great to be able to help out while also having the opportunity to get closer with some of my classmates, both new and old.

Planning Ahead

This past week was not only the Add/Drop period for this quarter, but also the Pre-enrollment week for classes for next semester. It's a little hard to kick your brain around this early for next semester, but pre-enrolling in classes is sometimes the only way you can get into them, like the Intro to Wines class that I am currently taking in the Hotel School. My week was a little hectic with an exam, two interviews and a group project, so I wasn't able to give a ton of thought to what I want to take in the spring, but I love the fact that we can take classes in any of the schools here at Cornell. So far I've picked "Principles of Real Estate" and "Human Resource Management". The first is in the Hotel School and the second in the ILR school. It will be great to meet even more people here at Cornell.

Today some of my friends and I went on a wine tour over on the west side of Seneca lake. It was my first official wine tour of the Finger Lakes region, and it was such a great time. We could have gone to the closer wineries around Cayuga Lake, but we were more interested in trying out the slightly farther Seneca ones - and we weren't disappointed. Armed with plenty of snack foods on our rented bus, we hit up about a half dozen wineries or more and a good time was had by all. It's so wonderful that Ithaca is nestled in the Finger Lakes region and that we have the opportunity to experience the wineries (and the beautiful fall scenery!) I would recommend the wineries in this region to anyone who visits Ithaca.

This weekend also contained one of the first symposiums of the year which was put on by the Black Graduate Business Association and was focused around professional development. From what I hear it was a great success and incredibly interesting. I wish that I could have participated. This is the first of many symposiums to come in the next couple of weeks, including one co-held by SHRLOE and the General Management Association, the Healthcare and Biotech Club, and many more. Check them out if you have the chance!

Also on the horizon is the diversity weekend here at the Johnson School called Johnson Means Business. Current students host the invited prospective students and there are many events that run throughout the weekend. It's a great way for people to get to see what the Johnson School is all about and it's also a wonderful way for current students to meet possible classmates. If you're a prospective who's been invited, please consider attending. It's such a great time and we look forward to hosting you!

Fall Break

It's amazing how excited and happy a person can get about having two days off from school. I anxiously awaited this past weekend like it was a snow day from my childhood. I haven't had a "fall break" since undergrad and after working for six years prior to business school, I had forgotten how fun it can be to have a nice little break.

Fall break signals the end of the first quarter of classes here at Cornell. It also brings on the excitement of new ones that will begin next week. Somedays I think I may be the only person who gets really excited to start a new class, but I can't help it. I feel like you never know when you'll find a class that will make you passionate about something. And even though I'm always on the go, and involved in a lot of things, I'm always looking for more things to be interested in and passionate about. My new classes in the second quarter will be "Disruptive Technologies" and "Customer Relationship Management." Well, I hope I will get into the second class because technically I am not registered for the course yet. I'll have to take my chances with the registrar and the Add/Drop process next Monday. Wish me luck!

Back to Fall Break, Sage Hall was eerily empty today (and it was SO easy to get free coffee this morning!). I hope that the first years are now having fun on their fall break! They have successfully survived the first part of the core and have three more exciting classes to undertake starting next week. Remember first years, don't let the second years freak you out about the classes. Make your own determination of how hard/easy a class will be for you. It's different for everyone. Ok, enough wisdom from me...

Golf, job offer, traditions and more

It's been over two weeks since my last post. Sorry for the delay! I think about blogging almost every day and then things just come up and get in the way. But enough excuses, on to a new post!

Friday September 7th was a fun day for me. I volunteered some of my time that day to help check people in for the annual Johnson School MBA Golf Tournament. It's a weekend-long tournament which is also a recruiting event. Recruiters from almost 30 companies came up for a career fair on Thursday and then some participated in the tournament, where they golfed with two to four students on Friday and/or Saturday. It's a great way for students to talk informally with recruiters and to express their interest in the company. Pairings don't always work out perfectly (i.e. not everyone can golf with the same company, even if they are all interested in it), but it's always a fun time. This year it was a particularly hot day (high of 94!) and I was sweating just signing people in. From what I've heard, this year was just as much of a success as past years. A great big thanks to Dave Marr and all of the other behind-the-scenes people who made it happen!

Since my last post I have found out that I did not receive an offer from Johnson & Johnson, who I interned for this summer. It was really lousy news to hear since I really loved the company and had a great experience there. The people were amazing to work with and I learned so much over my 11 week internship. I thought I had planned my internship so well, with a focus on companies that I would like to work for full-time and which fit my regional desires (to be near my boyfriend). I did my best this summer in a new role and I received good feedback, but in the end it all comes down to the needs of the organization. They want someone with a bit more procurement experience and that's something I just can't get around. So while I was hoping to relax this year with an offer from the summer, I now find myself back in the saddle, evaluating my next move. I see this as a great opportunity to research even better possibilities, although I'm not yet ready to give up on J&J since there are other ways in which I may be able to work for them. We'll see how it goes!

This weekend I was able to take my mind off job offer woes to enjoy time with my boyfriend Brian who came up from Philadelphia. We're one of the "lucky" ones holding a long distance relationship while I'm at school. We feel we don't have much to complain about though since we're a mere four hours from each other. There are classmates of mine who need to get on a plane to see their significant other and some need to fly around the world! So we count ourselves lucky that we see each other at least every two weeks. It requires some calendar finagling at times, and certainly a few small sacrifices, but it's worth it. We were determined to make it work when I left for school and we've never had too much of a problem doing just that. I just worked a little harder on Thursday and early Friday to get work done so that I didn't have to worry about it all weekend.

While Brian was here, we celebrated my very good friend Mythily's 30th birthday and we also participated in an honored Johnson School tradition called 'Johnson Night Out'. It involves second years and faculty hosting first years and other second years in a potluck-style dinner. Groups are set up so that everyone gets to meet some new people and it's always a fun time. Sadly, there weren't a lot of first years who participated this year. Many that did sign up cancelled at the last minute and many others just didn't sign up. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm terribly disappointed in the outcome from an overall standpoint. It's normally such a great time for everyone and the evening is capped off with a big gathering at a local bar for everyone to come together, talk about their dinners and celebrate the fact that the first midterms have been conquered! Thankfully, my hostesses and our dinner were absolutely fabulous and we had a few first years show up. A big thanks to them for making it possible!

Well, that's all for now. I've got a big week coming up with my first big engineering assignment due along with an oral presentation on it, and my first corporate briefing to attend. Let the fun begin!

Welcome back, welcome back

What a week! This week was the first full week of classes and boy was it packed with activities. I not only had my first taste of my new classes (I've got all good ones!), but I had a lot of club meetings which took up most of my time. If I had only one piece of advice to give to first years, it would be to not become an officer of more than one or two clubs. Especially because when you come back as a second year and you're excited to have a more relaxed schedule, a lot of club meetings can put a small cramp in your free time. It's great being involved, but it can become overwhelming quickly when everyone wants to meet within the first week. This doesn't mean that you can't be a member of quite a few clubs, since you get to decide how involved you want to be when you're just a member.

On a different note, I got to play bartender yesterday which was fun. Every Thursday one of the student clubs guest-bartends at the same local bar. Fifty percent of the tips that we generate go to the club that is tending bar. It is a great way to raise money for our clubs while also getting a large portion of the Johnson school population together to have a good time dancing and socializing. This Thursday was the first one of the year, so it's nice to know that there are many more to come.

Today a large group of us went to Stewart Park and played a demented yet hilarious version of kickball. It was another wonderful and unique way to get to meet even more people and I think that my goal to meet all of the first years is well on track. I've got to be close to a quarter already and it's only been a few weeks! Now, after a very long week, it's time to relax a little more and get some work done.

Where to start?

It's been exactly two weeks since the last day of my internship at Johnson & Johnson this summer and it's hard to believe how much has occurred since then. Only five days after my finish I drove back up here to Ithaca from West Chester, PA, unpacked and then attended a BBQ that some of my friends were having. I was looking forward to come back up to school, but even I am slightly surprised by the overwhelming enthusiasm that I currently have for being back. It's so great to see my fellow classmates again and to hear how they liked/disliked their summer experiences. Last year I thought the then-second-years were crazy for being so happy to return to Sage Hall after a summer with evenings and weekends free to do whatever they want but now I completely get it. Nothing builds camaraderie more than working together through the core your first year and knowing that you all survived it together.

I'm also excited to be back because I'm involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities such as Admissions Ambassadors (hosting prospectives for class visits), Leadership Fellows (helping first years with core team cohesion), Career Assistants (helping with mock interviewing), and of course this blog! This is my first time blogging and I am excited by the opportunity to share my experiences with everyone.


Back to my last two weeks, the day after I got back into town I became a facilitator at our Johnson Outdoor Experience event which wraps up the first years' orientation. It was a great experience getting to know some of the first years and to lead them through the team-building and trust exercises. I was able to put my leadership skills into action in a supportive environment and I believe that everyone was able to have a great time. While it was an awesome few days, I was pretty tired after cheering my JOE-lympics team to victory (Go Blue Team!) and crashed as soon as I got home last Saturday.



Sunday brought more friends back into town and some of the gals and I went to Buttermilk Falls to enjoy the day. It was overcast and slightly cool, but that made it perfect weather for hiking near the falls. I wasn't able to make it to any of the gorges or falls last year so I especially enjoyed being able to make the time to do it now. There are so many beautiful places around Ithaca that I'm still dying to explore which was an unexpected surprise upon arriving here. Who knew that the middle of nowhere could be so gorgeous (no pun intended)? I know that plenty of people made the time to do more exploring last year and I certainly envy them for it.

Monday and Tuesday went by in a blur as I bought my books online, searched the bookstores for my course packs and made all of the necessary appointments - hair, eye, gym, etc. I also took some time to stop by Sage to socialize a bit and of course to stop by Randall Sawyer's office to say hi and see how his summer was. I've never met any Admissions Director who genuinely cares for students like Randall (and remembers so much about every single one of them), not to mention he has a great big smile which is incredibly contagious.

Yesterday the school had a community picnic where I was again able to reconnect with faculty, staff, fellow second years and meet new students as well. I love being able to interact and share my thoughts and experiences with people like Rick Sweeney, our Marketing Director for Johnson, and my operations professor Nagesh Gavirneni. I came to the Johnson School for the close-knit community and that's what I got. Having professors and staff approach you and ask about your internship and what classes you're taking this fall is something I personally appreciate. I can't imagine having the same experience at a larger school.

Well, it's now Friday evening and it's time again to socialize and meet more people. I've got a personal goal to meet each and every one of the first years and actually know them by name. I think it's a challenge, but one that I can definitely achieve. Onward and upward!

I’m a second year student originally from Allentown, PA. I received a Bachelor’s degree in Management Science and Information Systems from Penn State University and worked for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. for six years in various IT roles. I am interested in switching from IT to supply chain management, which is one of the reasons that I am pursuing my MBA. I chose Johnson because of the smaller size and collaborative atmosphere. I’ve loved my experience so far and am looking forward to my second year.